The Fish Tube Meme


Alice Cao. 
A portion of Twitter users lost their collective minds last month after a video of a fish being launched through a ridiculously long tube originally from 2014 went viral again (https://twitter.com/cheddar/status/1159076692691955712). Built by Whooshh Innovations and dubbed the “salmon cannon”, the transport system that was built to help salmon travel over dams was given a far more popular name: “the fish tube”. Social media is often seen as something that poisons the minds of the younger generations and the source of infinite trouble for, and embarrassment from, the elder generations when they manage to access the site and then see your edgy 21st century jokes and pictures, but there is an upside that none can dispute. Social media can spread news quickly (not always accurately at first) and reach a far greater audience at a far greater rate than conventional newspapers can nowadays. This brings us to the main topic: the potential social media has to spread awareness about the environment and the problems it faces today. 
For some context, here’s how the tube works. There is a difference in pressure that propels the fish forward; a positive pressure behind the fish and a negative pressure in front of the fish that gives it a forward motion. Because the tube is made of soft, flexible material, it fits around the shape of the fish and does not require a constant column of water (like a waterslide would for humans) to propel its scaly passengers. Tests have verified that fish are not harmed whatsoever during their quick 18 mph trip through the cannon. 


The reason scientists needed to design these tubes (the first one was built in 2011) is because dams cut off bodies of water from each other, not only barricading salmon from their breeding grounds, but preventing the aquatic wildlife from naturally interacting as they would for the ecosystem to remain stable. In addition, the disruption of the river’s natural path (from running water to a lake of still water) confuses migrating salmon and puts the entire next generation in danger should the parents be unable to find suitable spawning grounds. So this human intervention became necessary because of previous human intervention. Previous attempts such as fish ladders and catching and hauling fish proved to be ineffective. Fish ladders only allowed three percent of one species to go on their traditional migration route, as found in a 2013 study. And then the more straightforward method of capturing fish, loading them onto trucks, and physically making the journey for them is not only distressing and dangerous for the fish, but also leaves them dazed, disoriented, and unable to swim away from predators in some cases. So the fish tube is yet another alternative people are trying to use to help nature’s workings return to normal.
Raising awareness for these very real, very important problems is key to eventually fixing them. The public’s support and aid generally becomes the determining factor in many projects because of donations that boost funds for organizations and the fact that all four of the articles used in this blog post were found using the three word search phrase “fish tube meme” is telling of just how much attention the salmon cannon attracted in such a short amount of time. This brief flash of fame that the fish tube had demonstrates the potential that social media could have for helping save the planet. What do you think would be the benefits and consequences of using social media to try and bring more awareness to the world’s problems are (i.e. Greta Thunberg)?





Comments

Anonymous said…
I am astonished by the innovation such a simple fish cannon. It is a clever way to stabilize the ecosystem that has been damaged by humans. I remember this canon being a big deal when it was trending and even though it was to help the envionrment I did not understand further that the cannon was not a scientific toy. Trending news needs more reasoning and facts behind it that explains why the invention is worth paying attention to rather than the amusement of launching fish. In my opinion, trendy subjects do not survive for more than a few weeks, which is not enough long term support for scientific researchers.
September 24, 2019 at 8:23 PM
Urvi Vallapareddy said…
I think social media can play a significant role in spreading awareness. Greta, for instance, showed how she can spread and raise awareness so rapidly after the UN convention. Her passion was felt by many. Social media, thought it can occasionally spread fake . news, often times due to the ability to comment/reply/debate, people spread more accurate and important information, which has shown to be effective for people trying to advocate. Urvi Vallapareddy
September 25, 2019 at 2:36 PM
Anonymous said…
It's so funny but so cool. Its purpose I never would have thought about until I looked it up! I'm glad I knew this meme because I didn't even know this was a problem, and now it has such an iconic solution. I'm glad I looked it up though, because even when everyone knows about it, only a few people know it's use.
September 25, 2019 at 8:25 PM
Anonymous said…
I think it’s a really funny and useful tool, though it is a bit disconcerting we’ve had to resort to such a level just to maintain normal environmental systems. Regardless, I think raising awareness can obviously be a good thing. On the other hand, raising too much can either blow a situation way out of proportion or start the spread of entirely false info, so I think it’s a very fine line.
September 28, 2019 at 7:44 PM
Anonymous said…
Oh wow this is so neat! I haven’t heard of this until now but glad I do know. This is such a simple (and silly) way to fix this problem we have made for our little fishes. I’m glad social media has been used for good. We always here about the bad and the ugly I’m glad to know people are spreading positivity and awareness.
September 29, 2019 at 7:36 PM
Anonymous said…
While this technology is quite intriguing and impressive, it is worth reminding everyone that we would not need this system if it weren’t for our previous interferences in existing ecosystems. Moreover, having seen this video several times, I question the efficiency of the “fish tube”, as it requires an individual to actually place the fish in the tube, and it seems unlikely that all fish will find their way to the opening of the tube, or the hands of the human, making the system already very slow. And yes, while social media does have its benefits, such as spreading awareness or disseminating news, it lacks the ability to truly incentivize people to change and take action, and it in no way makes up for the past destruction and disruption we as people have caused. After all, in the end, very few people will remember the fish tube as anything more than a meme. Is that to say I don’t believe in the ability of people to change in reaction to social media? No, as we’ve all at some point or another followed a “Let’s Reach This Many Followers and We’ll Donate $XX,XXX.XX”-esque account, and to that extent we do feel like we’re supporting the environment and helping promote awareness, which does truly benefit the environment.
September 30, 2019 at 8:56 AM
Anonymous said…
I had actually never heard of the fish cannon before now. I think it’s great that it’s a much more efficient way to transport fish and doesn’t render them helpless with disoriented senses. It also seems more environmentally friendly as it reduces the need for a truck to drive back and forth to transport the fish, which means less emissions released from the vehicle. Overall, it seems like an efficient (and fun) solution to a problem I hadn’t been aware of before now.
September 30, 2019 at 4:20 PM
Anonymous said…
I have seen these fish cannons before and in my opinion we wouldn’t have to have built this if it weren’t for humans altering the salmons habitats. Yes, this is a solution where we dont have to haul the fish back and forth, but in a natural environment humans don’t need to help fish get from one place to another. This shows how little we cared about the fish living near this dam when we built it. I also don’t think this helps the fish since most of them wont find the entrance to swim through, us humans have to help them do it.
September 30, 2019 at 6:53 PM
Anonymous said…
These sort of simple innovations are the path or “launch” as you might say towards helping our environment in small helpful ways. Such as Canada creating forest bridges over massive national park highways this small change towards fish migration gives me hope towards a brighter future for our environment. If people were to come together and develop many more of these highly innovative ideas that both benefit our natural ecosystems and allow us to keep our present structures to stay in place without damaging the ecosystem, then by all means this is the move.
September 30, 2019 at 9:29 PM
Anonymous said…
Ive never heard of a fish cannon. This is pretty funny i never heard of this, the way it is, where we shoot fish into the water. It helps our environment. Social media is also helping make these kind of innovations. Fish cannons sounds like were gonna shoot fish with big impact, but I saw this on instagram and i found this funny but never thought this could solve our problems.
October 1, 2019 at 8:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Social media is definitely one of the best ways to aid in the protection of the environment, as you showed with the salmon cannon. Social media allows those who can't make a huge impact get together in order to raise awareness and stand up against environmental dangers, in fact, social media has slowly began to move to that direction by posting about environmental dangers and troubled species.
October 1, 2019 at 4:50 PM
Anonymous said…
Social Media is definitely one of the fastest ways to spread awareness of a certain cause. This idea of a fish tube is brilliant on the fact that his helps the fish move from one habitat to the other when it is in need. Using social media for this cause definitely helped this cause because its awareness of the issue was shown to all. Social media in this day and age is moving towards the idea of sharing or posting about certain environmental issues and species in danger.

-Andrew Thomas
October 1, 2019 at 5:56 PM
Anonymous said…
Before this blog post, I had never even heard of fish cannons. I think social media is an effective way to spread awareness about important issues. However, the media does not focus on one topic for too long. As a result, change may not be as impactful. Some consequences of social media are that inaccurate information can be spread. False information about pressing matters can cause a panic or confusion among citizens. Also, I think that the fish cannon is a creative piece of technology that helps fix modern day problems.
October 1, 2019 at 6:26 PM
Anonymous said…
I think it is really cool how the tube is flexible and fits around the fish to conserve water. That is a really innovative design that I think conserves resources, maximizes energy production, and protects the fish all at the same time. I think that social media like this, and all media honestly, needs to shift from focusing on the negative and focusing on the positive. If you turn on the news, all you hear about is the political gossip, tragedies, and negative events in society. That should shift into a more positive focus which would benefit all of society in the long run.
October 2, 2019 at 12:18 PM
Anonymous said…
When it comes to social media, it’s effect is like a double edged sword. On one hand, it does wonders for spreading awareness to those who were previously uninformed on a topic. On the other, it can be largely biased and only one point of view when it comes to politics, playing into the spread of misinformation. For the environmental activists, such as Greta, social media has been a great tool for gaining her a larger standing in the fight against climate change, going as far as allowing her to be recognized by many politicians in her fight.
October 2, 2019 at 6:26 PM
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